July 11, 2017 – Step by Step

Step by StepTuesday, July 11, 2017“To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished at their inability to stop. We, who are familiar with the symptoms, see large numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere. But try and get them to see it!” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 3 (“More About Alcoholism”), pp 33-4.

Today, if I still resist the Step One of admitting I am powerless over alcohol, let me heed the warning against comparing my own drinking to others whose drinking are more in quantity and longer in time. If I do, my desperation to find any excuse not to acknowledge my own condition has become denial. Nor can I expect a young age to shield me from powerlessness. Nor can I find justification to continue drinking if I can say I don’t wake up every morning with a hangover or shakes that require a drink to calm them, or if I can say I have never spent a night in a county jail and faced a judge the day after because I was nailed for drunk driving, or if I can say I have never been in rehab. All these are consequences of alcoholism: that none has happened to me does not shield me. Today, I will not take anyone else’s inventory of drinking habits to minimize or justify mine and that I and I alone might be scared enough to grab the lifeline that is AA. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2017